Video gaming has become a popular spectator activity. Every month, millions of minutes of gameplay video are uploaded to streaming video services, which store the gameplay video and make it available for playback. Some services even offer “live” broadcasting of gameplay video in real time or near real time as the gameplay happens.
In a typical configuration, gameplay is recorded at a gaming console, smartphone or personal computer. A video encoder encodes frames of the gameplay, depicting animation rendered to the display and/or other graphical details. An audio encoder encodes sound effects, voice effects and/or other audio that accompanies the gameplay video. The encoded data is uploaded to a streaming video service, which makes the gameplay video (including associated audio) available for streaming.
In some configurations, the person playing a video game at a gaming console can provide audio commentary to narrate the gameplay as it happens. In some existing approaches, the player can also share a video of himself/herself playing the video game. This allows the player to add gestures, facial expressions, etc. to the gameplay video that is recorded at the gaming console. In these existing approaches, however, the camera video of the player appears at a fixed location in the gameplay video that is recorded at the gaming console. Depending on the game or stage of the game, the camera video overlay of the player may obscure an important part of the gameplay area in the gameplay video that is streamed to viewers. Also, in some existing approaches, the camera video overlay of the player may obscure part of the gameplay area that the player sees, which can be highly disruptive to the player.